Jar Jar Binks takes relations between Earth and Naboo very seriously.

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When Ray Bradbury passed away in 2012 at the age of 91, he left behind an impressive legacy--not just his beloved body of publish work, but an incredible collection of concept art and memorabilia honoring science fiction and fantasy that is now being auctioned off to the public.

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The author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451 started a zine shortly after high school, an act which is now commonly met with derision, but was actually pretty popular for science fiction enthusiasts back in the day. It's called Futuria Fantasia (really), and you can find all four issues free on Project Gutenberg.

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The Catching Fire poster is actually one of those newfangled "motion posters" which is basically a gif that won't stop playing sound at you, so we're putting it behind the jump. Yes, it comes with a mute button. In the meantime, remember Nerdache Cakes? They're starting a YouTube channel for tutorials, but need 1k likes before they do. Go help them out! (Tumblr)

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The Hobbit's official website lets you play riddle games. Presumably it will not eat you if you lose. (SuperheroHype)

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Ever since Ray Bradbury, science fiction guru and author of works like The Martian Chronicles, passed away back in June, folks have been tossing around the idea of renaming something in Los Angeles after the late writer. Recently, the idea came to rename an intersection after the man. Yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to rename the downtown intersection at Fifth and Flower to Ray Bradbury Square. This is somewhat amusing, as Bradbury didn't drive.

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Move along. (via Fashionably Geek) 

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I'm sorry that I have no more information on these than what you see here. (I Heart Chaos)

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The family of Ray Bradbury announced this morning that the author died peacefully last night after a "lengthy illness." The man behind Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and The Illustrated Man was ninety one. io9 contacted Danny Karapetian, Bradbury's grandson, who said this:

If I had to make any statement, it would be how much I love and miss him, and I look forward to hearing everyone's memories about him. He influenced so many artists, writers, teachers, scientists, and it's always really touching and comforting to hear their stories. Your stories. His legacy lives on in his monumental body of books, film, television and theater, but more importantly, in the minds and hearts of anyone who read him, because to read him was to know him. He was the biggest kid I know.

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Updated content follows below. The Associated Press is reporting that Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, died last night in his California home at the age of 91. Bradbury's works were often subversive, taking on such topics as authoritarian control of information and the long tensions of the Cold War. He will be sorely missed.

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Publisher Simon & Schuster has announced that Ray Bradbury has relented and his classic Fahrenheit 451 will be released today as an eBook. Well, it's about time, Ray. Yeah, I know that it's spooky that a book about the decline of reading and book burning is being released as an eBook, the format that directly competes with the printed word. And, yes, Bradbury has been a longtime proponent of written books and has, according to the WaPo, referred to the Internet as "a big distraction," but that doesn't mean he can't get with the times! Besides there's, nothing sinister about reading Fahrenheit 451 on my Kindle.

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You know, I thought it was kind of funny when Amazon named their latest Kindle, Fire. It made me think about book burnings and specifically, Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451. So it was even more interesting when I read the news today that 91-year-old Bradbury finally conceded to transferring his famous novel to the digital format. That's hot. 

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At Skepchick.

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TIL A New Word: Nurdle (Reuters) Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury! (GeekDad) The Cosplay of Gamescom (Kotaku) Adrien Brody as Mr. Fantastic? (ScreenRant) DJ Hero 2 Dated (GameRant) 2,000 Year Old Hellenistic Paintings Discovered (The Guardian) Somebody Made a Wacom for the Wii? (Joystiq) (image via Reddit.)

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Everybody Gets New Body Parts, Except... (Erica Henderson) Joseph Gordon-Levitt Sings Natural Woman (Underwire) Close Encounters of the Punk Kind (iwantmyTVNOW) The LA Times Talks to Ray Bradbury (LA Times) Celebrities Who Are Geeks Now (Geeks are Sexy) What the Book You're Reading Says About You (FlavorWire) Critique Scott Pilgrim, Not His Audience (NPR) (picture via Half-Assed Commitment.)

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“We have too many cellphones. We've got too many Internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now.”

...I was approached three times during the last year by Internet companies wanting to put my books" on an electronic reading device, he said. "I said to Yahoo, 'Prick up your ears and go to hell.'"

--Legendary sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, who will turn 90 years old on August 22nd, on the state of the modern world. Bradbury is also pissed that we've basically given up on space exploration.

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I write this post going into science fiction as a fan, but also unaware of how most scientists think about it.  I can imagine two central viewpoints: (1) scientists who enjoy it (like myself), simultaneously as entertainment and a bit of critical thinking and (2) scientists who dislike it due to its tendency to portray “evil scientists” and/or science and technology gone awry, destroying the world.

I didn’t really grow up reading science fiction.  Sure, I was (and am) completely obsessed with some fantasy novels (e.g. Lord of the Rings) but never made the leap to becoming a true sci-fi nerd.  It wasn’t until I started studying science more fully that I developed an interest in speculative science fiction.  Many of the stories do deal with technology taking over civilization – but embedded within this framework is a great deal of excitement, along with some deserved anxiety.

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